SACRAMENTO, Ca. - (Thursday, June 9, 2005)Alonzo Nelson and the Redhawks 4X400 Relay team each failed to qualify for the finals of their events Thursday evening at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track Championships at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, California.

Alonzo Nelson (Alton, Ill./East St. Louis High School), who came into the championships with the 18th best time in the 400 meter hurdles in the NCAA, finished fourth in his preliminary heat with a time of 51.77, one second off his career-best of 50.77. Overall his time placed him 22nd as the top two finishers in each heat advanced into Friday's finals followed by the six best individual times.

Georgia's LaRon Bennett won Nelson's heat with a time of 50.60. Kerron Clement (Florida) had the best overall time with a time of 49.13.

Later in the evening Nelson returned to the track to compete as a member of the Redhawks 4X400 relay team with team members Miles Smith (St. Louis, Mo./Riverview Gardens), Chaz Brown (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway North) and Chris Poindexter (St. Louis, Mo./McCluer North).

That team failed to finish in the top eight and qualify for Saturday's final. The team finished 17th among the 18 teams with a time of 3:07.94 well behind the days best time of 3:01.69 by Texas Tech.

The Redhawks competed in the first heat with nationally ranked relay teams LSU and Arizona State. That heat would wind up with three of the eight qualifying teams for the finals as Northern Iowa joined LSU and Arizona State as qualifiers. LSU won the heat with a time of 3:03.08 which was the second-best time behind Texas Tech.

Thursday's results leaves Smith as the lone Redhawks competitor still alive at the NCAAs. Smith will compete in the semifinals of the 400 meter dash on Friday, June 10. On Wednesday Smith posted the fourth-best time in the preliminaries with a time of 45.79. Smith needs to finish with one of the top eight times to advance to Saturday's final.

Results of all the action from the championships are available live at ncaasports.com.